Historic Peregrine Falcon Nesting In San Diego's Backcountry First Witnessed By Non-Profit Climbing Organization

By Jeff Brown – Allied Climbers of San Diego, Inc. / www.alliedclimbers.org

San Diego, California, May 15, 2009 – The peregrine falcon, once a federally listed endangered species, has made a comeback!

Sightings of peregrine falcons are common along the San Diego coastline, but for the first time ever, peregrine falcons (Falco peregrinus anatum) have been documented nesting in the Cleveland National Forest.

Jeff Brown, Director of Allied Climbers of San Diego, a California Non-Profit............

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San Diego Union Tribune: Outdoors Report

Local climbers spot endangered falcons

By Ed Zieralski Union-Tribune Staff Writer

<Link to Union-Tribune Article>

2:00 a.m. May 17, 2009

As the state Fish and Game Commission closes in on delisting the American peregrine falcon from its Endangered Species list, a local climber and his wife made an incredible discovery this spring in the Corte Madera Mountain area of the Cleveland National Forest.

Jeff Brown and his wife, Keli Balo, both of Allied Climbers of San Diego, discovered nesting American peregrine falcons in an area that had been occupied previously by prairie falcons, a nonendangered cousin of peregrines.

“We'd seen peregrines hunt at Corte Madera in the past, but never nest,” said Brown, director of Allied Climbers. “We felt privileged to see history in the making.”

Brown described incredible sights such as watching peregrines hunt and snatch swallows out of midair.

Brown researched the issue and discovered it was the first time anyone had witnessed nesting peregrine falcons in San Diego's backcountry. Sightings of the recovered raptors are common along the California coastline, particularly along the Torrey Pines bluffs.

Brown has been working with the Cleveland National Forest to maintain access for climbers who have taken great strides to climb safely and respectfully around nesting raptors such as golden eagles and even unoccupied eagle nests.

Brown was the first to alert the Forest Service about the peregrines and Allied Climbers combined with the Forest Service to establish and publicize buffer zone advisories to educate the public.

Brown said it's fitting that climbers like him and his wife discovered the peregrines in the San Diego backcountry. It was climbing pioneers such as Rob Ramey, who also was a field biologist and conservation geneticist, who once carried peregrine chicks raised in captivity to peregrine nests. Once there, Ramey and other climbers would replace the bird's eggs whose shells had been thinned by DDT with live chicks. The eggs would be taken back for incubation.

Brown said his Allied Climbers and others are working with the Forest Service to help the financially strapped federal agency with chores and monitoring of these raptor species.

“Managing climbers is sort of new to the Cleveland,” Brown said. “Other areas like Joshua Tree National Park, Yosemite or Eldorado National Forest have a long history with climbers and raptors. Advisories and closures in those areas are generally a lot smaller, and it works. The raptors nest successfully, fledging young year after year.

“If agencies don't close off too large an area, climbers and others will develop trust that agencies aren't acting as extremists. Increase in trust is the key. The more we can work together and increase that trust, the more likely climbers and other recreationists like hunters, fishers, off-roaders, hikers, mountain bikers, you name it, will step up and contact their local public land manager when they think they see nesting raptors.”

To reach Brown, e-mail him at jbrown@alliedclimbers.org or check the group's Web site at alliedclimbers.org.

Correction:
The article states Brown was the first to alert the Forest Service about the peregrines. While Jeff Brown did witness the hunting behavior of the Peregrines in the Corte Madera area (as he has in the past), the Forest Service was first to observe nesting behavior.